Documents reveal coordination between Assad regime, UNICEF over orphans of Eastern Ghouta

An official document obtained by Zaman al-Wasl revealed cooperation and coordination between the Assad regime and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to care for unaccompanied children who left the Damascus Ghouta, where most of them are believed to have lost their families.

The document, a telegram issued by the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates on March 20, 2018, indicates that the ministry received an email from UNICEF offering to provide support and assistance to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent in the field of caring for these children.

The telegram asks the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor to express its opinion on this offer, in preparation for making the appropriate decision.

It is worth noting that the date of this document dates back to the period of the siege of Eastern Ghouta by the regime forces and its affiliated militias, where the residents were subjected to a stifling siege for years, which led to the displacement of thousands of civilians, including many children who lost their families through killing or arrest.

This document raises questions about the nature of the relationship between the Assad regime and UNICEF, and the extent of the independence of the organization's work in Syria. Questions are also raised about the fate of children evacuated from Ghouta, and how to ensure their care and protection.

In another document, photos of SOS Children's Villages are shown hiding Ghouta children, as the document refers to a request to place the two children Fatima and Hamza, who were taken out of Eastern Ghouta through the safe passage in Al-Wafideen camp, with SOS Children's Villages to secure shelter, with instructions not to leak any information about them.

The two documents show the role of UNICEF and SOS in supporting the Assad regime; here the following question is raised: Is this cooperation legal? Does international law, which the organizations rely on, allow for separating children from their families and hiding the children of detainees and martyrs?